Pre-surgery planning tool for estimation of resection volume to improve nasal breathing based on lattice Boltzmann fluid flow simulations.

PURPOSE: State-of-the-art medical examination techniques (e.g., rhinomanometry and endoscopy) do not always lead to satisfactory postoperative outcome. A fully automatized optimization tool based on patient computer tomography (CT) data to calculate local pressure gradient regions to reshape pathological nasal cavity geometry is proposed. METHODS: Five anonymous pre- and postoperative CT datasets with nasal septum deviations were used to simulate the airflow through the nasal cavity with lattice Boltzmann (LB) simulations. Pressure gradient regions were detected by a streamline analysis. After shape optimization, the volumetric difference between the two shapes of the nasal cavity yields the estimated resection volume. RESULTS: At LB rhinomanometry boundary conditions (bilateral flow rate of 600 ml/s), the preliminary study shows a critical pressure gradient of -1.1 Pa/mm as optimization criterion. The maximum coronal airflow ΔA  := cross-section ratio [Formula: see text] found close to the nostrils is 1.15. For the patients a pressure drop ratio ΔΠ  := (pre-surgery - virtual surgery)/(pre-surgery - post-surgery) between nostril and nasopharynx of 1.25, 1.72, -1.85, 0.79 and 1.02 is calculated. CONCLUSIONS: LB fluid mechanics optimization of the nasal cavity can yield results similar to surgery for air-flow cross section and pressure drop between nostril and nasopharynx. The optimization is numerically stable in all five cases of the presented study. A limitation of this study is that anatomical constraints (e.g. mucosa) have not been considered.

Assessment of health-related quality-of-life in patients with chronic Rhinosinusitis - Validation of the German Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-22 (German-SNOT-22).

PURPOSE: The Sino-Nasal-Outcome-Test-22 (SNOT-22) represents the reference questionnaire to assess symptoms, health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) and treatment-response in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). The SNOT-22 has been validated for various languages, yet no validation is available for the German version. Thus, we provide a validation of the SNOT-22 for German. METHODS: In this prospective observational study 139 CRS-patients and 36 control-participants were included. CRS-patients completed the German-SNOT-22 before treatment (T0) and four (T1), twelve (T2) and 48 weeks after inclusion (T3). At T0, Mackay-Naclerio-, Lund-Mackay- and Brief-Symptom-Inventory-18 (BSI-18) scores were collected as external reference for the German-SNOT-22 and its subscales. At T1, T2, and T3 health-transition-items (HTIs) were raised to explore responsivity. Control-participants completed the German-SNOT-22 at T0. Reliability (internal consistency, item-total correlation), validity (concurrent validity, discriminatory validity) and responsiveness (distribution- and anchor-based) were explored for the German-SNOT-22. RESULTS: At T0, the mean German-SNOT-22 total-score for CRS patients was 38.0 (± 20.9) and responded to treatment (T1 = 26.3 ± 19.1; T2 = 25.8 ± 20.6; T3 = 20.5 ± 16.3). For control-participants, the mean total-score at T0 was 15.1 (±10.9). The German-SNOT-22 was reliable (excellent internal consistency α = 0.93; good overall item-total correlations r = 0.39-0.85), valid (significant correlations between Mackay-Naclerio-, Lund-Mackay- and BSI-18 scores, all r > 0.39, p < 0.01) and responsive (significant correlations between HTIs and mean change in German-SNOT-22 total-score F = 9.57, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The German-SNOT-22 validated here matches the original SNOT-22. It is a reliable, valid and responsive questionnaire to assess symptoms, HRQOL and treatment-response in CRS-patients. Good psychometric properties were observed.

Slug Is A Surrogate Marker of Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in Head and Neck Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) promotes therapy resistance in head and neck cancer (HNC) cells. In this study, EMT was quantified in HNC tumor samples by the cellular co-localization of cytokeratin/vimentin, E­cadherin/ß­catenin and by Slug expression. METHODS: Tissue samples from HNC patients were stained with antibody pairs against cytokeratin/vimentin and E-cadherin/ß-catenin. Epithelial-mesenchymal co-localization was quantified using immunofluorescence multichannel image cytometry. Double positivity was confirmed using confocal microscopy. Slug was semi-quantified by 2 specialists and quantified by bright field image cytometry. RESULTS: Tumor samples of 102 patients were investigated. A loss of E-cadherin positive cells (56.9 ± 2.6% vs. 97.9 ± 1.0%; p < 0.0001) and E-cadherin/ß-catenin double positive cells (15.4 ± 5.7% vs. 85.4 ± 1.2%; p < 0.0001) was observed in tumor samples. The percentage of Slug positive cells was increased in tumor samples (12.1 ± 3.6% vs. 3.2 ± 2.6%; p = 0.001). Ordinal Slug scores judged by two specialists closely correlated with percentage of Slug-positive cells (Spearman's rho = 0.81; p < 0.001). Slug score correlated negatively with the percentage of E-cadherin positive cells (r = 0.4; p = 0.006), the percentage of E-cadherin/ß-catenin positive cells (r = 0.5; p = 0.001) and positively with cytokeratin/vimentin positive cells (r = 0.4, p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: EMT can be assessed in HNC tumor probes by cytokeratin/vimentin co-expression and loss of E-cadherin/ß-catenin co-expression. Slug score provides a convenient surrogate marker for EMT.

Prognosis of congenital idiopathic abductor laryngeal paralysis with laryngeal electromyography.

OBJECTIVE: To assess if laryngeal electromyography could provide additional information in the prognosis of congenital bilateral idiopathic abductor vocal cord paralysis (abCBILP). METHODS: We performed a retrospective review over a 23-year period (1995-2018) of all children younger than 13 years old in the Medical University of Innsbruck. RESULTS: We identified five infants with abCBILP. Fiberoptic laryngeal endoscopy revealed bilateral vocal cord immobility in adduction without accompanying laryngeal findings. Tracheostomy rate was 100%. Tracheostomy was performed after minimum 3 weeks of non-improvement with continuous positive airway pressure treatment or intubation. In all patients, repeated laryngeal electromyography revealed volitional activity. All patients showed excellent full late recovery in the second quinquennium of life. CONCLUSION: Presence of volitional activity in laryngeal electromyography could identify patients with excellent prognosis. Prospective laryngeal electromyography studies are required in more patients with abCBILP in order to document laryngeal electromyography findings also by patients with poor late recovery. Patients with poor prognosis could be selected for early laryngeal intervention to avoid tracheostomy-dependent issues. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4 Laryngoscope, 130:E252-E257, 2020.

The SNOT-22 factorial structure in European patients with chronic rhinosinusitis: new clinical insights.

PURPOSE: The sino-nasal outcomes test-22 (SNOT-22) represents the reference questionnaire to assess patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). As weak correlations between objective CRS parameters and SNOT-22 total score have been observed, factor analyses have aimed to identify underlying factorial structures. However, ambiguous factor loadings and problematic item-domain assignments have resulted. Moreover, such factor analyses have mainly been performed in non-European CRS patients, while European data remain sparse. This study thus sought to address these issues. METHODS: Principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed from SNOT-22 questionnaires completed by European CRS patients. Goodness of fit, internal consistencies, and factor loadings were calculated. Item-domain assignment was based on statistical grounds and clinical meaningfulness. Additionally, this study investigated correlations between SNOT-22 domains and external reference criteria, including Lund-Mackay score, Lund-Naclerio score and the brief symptom inventory 18 (BSI-18). RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-four European CRS patients were included. Principal component analysis proposed four SNOT-22 domains ("nasal symptoms", "otologic symptoms", "sleep symptoms", "emotional symptoms"), which explained 63.6% of variance. Observed item-domain-assignment differed from previously proposed item-domain assignments. All factor loadings were > 0.5, except "cough" (0.42) and "facial pain or pressure" (0.49). For confirmatory factor analysis, satisfactory goodness of fit (RMSEA = 0.66; CFI = 0.92; TLI = 0.90) and internal consistencies (Cronbach-α: total score = 0.93; domains = 0.75-0.91) were observed. Significant positive correlations were found between the "nasal symptoms" domain and both the Lund-Mackay score (r = 0.48; p < 0.001) and the Lund-Naclerio score (r = 0.27, p < 0.01). Significant positive correlations were also identified between "emotional symptoms" and BSI-18 total score (r = 0.64, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Principal component analysis performed for SNOT-22 questionnaires completed by European CRS patients indicated a different item-domain-assignment than previously reported. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested acceptable and clinically plausible psychometric properties for the resulting factorial structure. Significant correlations between the "nasal symptoms" and the "emotional symptoms" domains were observed with objective CRS parameters. The resulting factorial structure with different item-domain assignments may thus be more suitable for European CRS patients.

EAACI Position paper on the standardization of nasal allergen challenges.

Nasal allergen challenge (NAC) is an important tool to diagnose allergic rhinitis. In daily clinical routine, experimentally, or when measuring therapeutic success clinically, nasal allergen challenge is fundamental. It is further one of the key diagnostic tools when initiating specific allergen immunotherapy. So far, national recommendations offered guidance on its execution; however, international divergence left many questions unanswered. These differences in the literature caused EAACI to initiate a task force to answer unmet needs and find a consensus in executing nasal allergen challenge. On the basis of a systematic review containing nasal allergen challenges of the past years, task force members reviewed evidence, discussed open issues, and studied variations of several subjective and objective assessment parameters to propose a standardized way of a nasal allergen challenge procedure in clinical practice. Besides an update on indications, contraindications, and preparations for the test procedure, main recommendations are a bilaterally challenge with standardized allergens, with a spray device offering 0.1 mL per nostril. A systematic catalogue for positivity criteria is given for the variety of established subjective and objective assessment methods as well as a schedule for the challenge procedure. The task force recommends a unified protocol for NAC for daily clinical practice, aiming at eliminating the previous difficulty of comparing NAC results due to unmet needs.

Saline irrigations following sinus surgery - a controlled, single blinded, randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common health problem. If medical treatment fails, endonasal sinus surgery is a valuable treatment option. A thorough postsurgical treatment is needed including, among others, nasal saline irrigations (NSI). In this prospective, controlled, single blinded, randomized trial, we aimed to evaluate efficacy of nasal saline irrigations following endonasal sinus surgery in CRS-patients with nasal polyps. METHODOLOGY: We examined patient's nasal symptoms, general quality of life and postoperative condition of the mucosa. We also investigated whether or not NSI reduced the number of missed workdays after surgery (MWD). Patients were randomized into an irrigation and non-irrigation arm. RESULTS: Following treatment, mean nasal sum-score in the irrigation arm was 4.4 and in the non-irrigation arm it was 6.3. Accordingly, mean general sum-score in the irrigation arm was 2.5 and in the non-irrigation arm 4.8. Thus, nasal irrigation led to a more pronounced improvement of nasal and general symptoms than in the non-irrigation arm. No differences were observed in postoperative condition of mucosa or number of MWD. CONCLUSIONS: Nasal irrigation improves symptoms score after ESS in patients with CRSwNP.

Intractable Posterior Epistaxis due to a Spontaneous Low-Flow Carotid-Cavernous Sinus Fistula: A Case Report and a Review of the Literature.

We report a case of a 90-year-old patient with intractable posterior epistaxis presenting as the only symptom of a nontraumatic low-flow carotid-cavernous sinus fistula. Purpose of this case report is to introduce low-flow carotid-cavernous sinus fistula in the differential diagnosis of intractable posterior epistaxis. We provide a literature review for the sequence of actions for the confrontation of posterior epistaxis. We also emphasize the significance of the radiological diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in the management of posterior epistaxis due to pathology of the cavernous sinus. The gold-standard diagnostic procedure of carotid-cavernous sinus fistula is digital subtraction angiography (DSA). DSA with coils is also the state-of-the-art therapy. By failure of DSA, neurosurgery or stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) may be used as alternatives. SRS may also be used as enhancement procedure of the DSA. Considering the prognosis of a successfully closed carotid-cavernous sinus fistula, recanalization occurs only in a minority of patients. Close follow-up is advised.

[Acute rhinosinusitis in adults--EPOS 2012 Part II]. / Akute Rhinosinusitis bei Erwachsenen--EPOS 2012 Teil II.

Rhinosinusitis (RS) is an inflammatory disorder of the mucous membranes of the nose and paranasal sinuses, which are almost always affected concurrently. The EPOS2012 position paper initiated by the European Rhinologic Society and the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology is a recent comprehensive source on this common disease affecting approximately 20% of the population worldwide. Inflammation, not infection, is considered the cornerstone of RS, which is considered a temporal and pathophysiologic disease continuum with various subtypes. Acute rhinosinusitis is diagnosed, if typical symptoms last less than 12 weeks. It affects approximately 10% of the European population. Acute RS is further subdivided into acute viral, acute postviral and acute bacterial RS. Acute viral RS lasts less than 10 days with decreasing symptom intensity, while acute postviral RS is characterized by longer duration or a sudden increase of symptom severity around the 5th day ('double sickening'). Acute bacterial RS is assumed if 3 of the following 5 criteria are additionally met: Discoloured discharge (with unilateral predominance), severe local pain (with unilateral predominance), fever (>38ºC), elevated ESR/CRP, and 'double-sickening'. For the treatment of acute viral RS, nasal saline irrigations and OTC cold remedies are advised. In acute postviral RS, additional topical steroids are suggested. Advantages and disadvantages of antibiotic treatment in acute bacterial RS are detailed. Overall, the new EPOS position paper infers a reorientation in this area of high medical, pharmaceutical and economic relevance.